I couldn't figure out whether to rate this higher or lower than The Great Gatsby and ended up just scoring it the same. As a disclaimer, I have to say that I have never been a fan of Superman and I went into this with fairly low (but hopefully optimistic) feelings. I thought it was a mess. Little to no plot with enough mind-numbing explosions and building crashes to compete with a Michael Bay feature. The cinematography and direction were derivative of Independence Day, 300, and a Midwestern All-American blue jeans commercial. Think I'm being harsh? I'm not done.

Let's start with the screenplay. It's loaded with enough cliches and pithy, vapid phrases to make Captain Planet choke. I have no idea why Zack Snyder would allow another one of his characters in a non-300 movie to shout "THIS IS MADNESS", but there we go.

No, actually it's Krypton.

Furthermore, in one of the many climactic battles, General Zod (played by Michael Shannon) shouts: "It only ends one way! Either you die or I do!" You can't help but do the math in your head and think: "...wait no. That's two ways, Zod. Those are two possibilities here."

Let's move on to the plot. I had hopes for this in hearing that Christopher Nolan was involved in the story (indeed, I read in an interview that he became involved and invested in the Superman storyline while trying to figure out what to do next in the Dark Knight universe), but my faith in Nolan has been dashed. Instead of creating a general story arc complete with an origin story, director Snyder instead opted to sprinkle in bits of Superman's past in brief scenes to cut up the practically non-existent story in the present time. Not only does this style drag, but it doesn't quite hide the fact that there isn't a very strong base for conflict. It feels more like Twilight in that the majority of the movie is spent on how muscular and good-guy Superman is before throwing in a bunch of fighting and a hash conflict in the third act.

And therein is my problem with Superman in general. There's no conflict within him. What has he had to face? Expulsion from the planet, the crippling feeling of being alone in the world, the claim that his family doesn't understand or isn't really his (despite the fact that they took him in and raised as their son...hello, what does this say about adoption for the rest of us?). ...If you take a look at it, these are the same problems that every angsty teenager attest to...well, minus the planet part.

You're not my father. You've just fed and raised me and shaped my moral values all my life.

Snyder seems to have a problem with pacing. My favorite movie of his will always be Dawn of the Dead (George Romero remake). He has great vision and has made some great adaptations -- 300 and Watchmen to name a couple. But like Watchmen, this movie feels about twice as long as it actually is. We don't get a good look at who Superman is as a person or how we can relate to him, and we therefore have little sympathy for his characters or what he goes through. I didn't care too much what happened to him at the end. Despite the eternity that this movie felt like, there wasn't enough development in the story or the characters. As much as I love Amy Adams, it's not her fault that there wasn't enough there to make her romance with Superman in any way believable or natural. Furthermore, people kept making stupid mistakes in order for the plot to continue.

The only good thing I can say is that we didn't have the trademark slow-motion that is director Zack Snyder's style. Unfortunately, he seemed to take that to mean he could fill up all that extra time with explosions. And lots of buildings getting beat up. I love that Superman is so invested in saving lives, but he thinks it's okay to obliterate every single building in the city in the process. Buildings that probably have people in them. Lots of them. And how many times do we have to see two superhumans fighting by taking a running start at each other? How many, Zack Snyder? Huh??

It's already been done. And way better too.

Snyder's direction is less than subtle in other ways. In one scene where Superman is talking about sacrificing himself and putting himself in the hands of the public, there is a stained glass image of Jesus right behind him. The. Whole. Time. They also keep on harping on the fact that he is 33 years old, which is about the age of Jesus at his crucifixion, emphasizing Superman's sacrifice.

The funny thing is that Superman was actually created by two Jewish guys. I don't think they meant him to be a Christ figure.

In conclusion, Man of Steel was a big let-down even for someone that went in with little expectations.